Do war talk my way, says John Howard

HOWARD SHAKES A FIST

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong should stop their “pussyfooting and lukewarm condemnation” amid the Hamas-Israel conflict, former PM John Howard told The Australian ($). He claimed Wong looked “uncomfortable” — check it out here and judge for yourself — and said Albanese hadn’t made “unequivocal statements” — his last words on the matter were that the pro-Palestine marches should not have happened while acknowledging that Palestinians have been “suffering for a long period of time as well”, as Guardian Australia reports. Albanese has also criticised the “politicisation” of the conflict — the AFR ($) writes: “The Coalition has sided squarely with Israel while the Greens have backed the Palestinians. Labor, while condemning the Hamas atrocities and backing Israel’s right to defend itself, has been more circumspect.”

Meanwhile, there are 10,000 Australian dual citizens and visitors in Israel right now, and the government is working on a contingency plan to airlift them out using civilian and military aircraft if commercial flights continue to be suspended. Among them is NT photographer Asher Lilley and her family, the NT News reports, who saw a missile strike within 50 metres of their beachfront hotel. Cripes. She expressed frustration that Qantas wanted to charge her and others thousands to move forward their flights out of the country — the embattled airline quickly changed its policy and waived its fees. It comes as a female librarian, Galit Carbone, 66, is reportedly the first Australian death confirmed in Israel, The Daily Telegraph ($) says. The Sydney-born grandmother was reportedly found outside the front door of her home in Be’eri kibbutz where more than 100 were killed.

NEWS FLASH

News Corp believes in “protecting the environment, pursuing strong governance practices, [and] fostering a more diverse, equitable, inclusive and engaged workforce”, according to Rupert Murdoch’s creed (possibly the last?) in the company’s latest ESG statement. The lads at the SMH’s ($) CBD column scoff that “few documents blow out our corporate bullshit radar harder” than an ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) at the best of times, adding that Sky News after dark may be pivoting to “emissions reduction, diversity and inclusion” and “rainbow flags”. When hell freezes over, presumably. It was just three weeks ago that Andrew Bolt said people are “being lied to on global warming”, as Sky News Australia reports, claiming that global warming policies are “hurting you” much more than global warming itself. Mhm.

Meanwhile to Sky’s other favourite fodder — the Voice to Parliament. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “unexpectedly” sat down with 14 female Indigenous leaders from remote communities in Uluru, Guardian Australia reports, including the NPY women’s council chair Margaret Smith. The pro-Voice women held the PM’s hands and sang to him, and he was “visibly moved”, the paper says. Hey, ABC has a cracking story this morning about the oft-repeated phrase “sovereignty never ceded” in the Voice referendum — it basically means the “ultimate authority of a state to govern itself” was never given to the British. Indigenous peoples in Australia don’t have the Western definition of sovereignty, unlike Canada’s First Nations folks, but they do maintain an Indigenous definition based on “spirituality and culture”, one expert said.

FIGHTING FIRE WITH… ?

Volunteer firefighters got only 16% of the $68.6 million raised in the past decade, the SMH ($) reports, while more than half was paid to a telemarketer called 4Mile. The paper did some sleuthing and found a site where former 4Mile staff accused it of “predatory sales tactics” against oldies, though its CEO denied it. So what about the rest? Financial docs from the Rural Fire Service to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission showed $12 million went towards training, education, counselling and family days for volunteers, while $16.7 million were operational costs — that means three-quarters of donations were spent on admin, the paper says. For comparison — reporter Max Maddison adds (he really did his homework here) — 80% of donations to World Vision go towards the field and advocacy.

Meanwhile, regular Australians are under more mortgage stress than any other country in the developed world, Guardian Australia reports. The International Monetary Fund found 15% of our income is given to the bank — with Canada, Norway and the Netherlands spending less. The IMF also found Australia’s real GDP will grow by 1.8% in 2023 and 1.2% in 2024. It comes as people aren’t building homes as much lately and it’s probably going to reduce the risk of interest rate rises, CoreLogic via the AFR ($) says. The growth of construction costs is at the lowest pace since 2015 — 0.5% during the September quarter, down from 0.7%. It means the price of new homes shouldn’t rise as fast as we’ve seen in the past year, one expert said.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

“Penny Lane, there is a fireman with an hourglass,” The Beatles crooned in their eponymous hit song, “And in his pocket is a portrait of the queen.” Just two years before the release of “Penny Lane” in 1965, it’s been revealed John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr did meet a fireman at Buckingham Palace, and in his pocket was a medal from the queen. George Goodman, who was the chief fire prevention officer for Birmingham, was receiving an MBE at the same time as the band. He didn’t really get all the fuss about them, but his kid daughter Joy loved them, so he figured he may as well get their signatures.

As the band courteously scrawled their signature, a rather frank Goodman blurted out — to perhaps one of the greatest bands ever, mind — “I don’t know what she sees in you.” It was a comment that evidently made them laugh, as a good-natured McCartney repeated it to the tittering press afterwards. Fast forward to the present day and little Joy, now 70, has sold the page of history to an anonymous Beatles fan for a cool $14,146 (£7,400). It had been tucked away for years, she said, and she wanted it to go to someone who would “appreciate it and treasure it”. As for whether her father kept his fire truck clean, as the lyrics continue, the BBC says we’ll probably never know.

Hoping your honesty wins you points today too.

SAY WHAT?

Kieren, obtained from where? Where was the polling obtained from? I mean frankly, I’ve been in politics a long time and you’ve been reporting on it for a long time, the idea that you have individual seat polling, without any figures or any detail of how many people were contacted etc. I have seen reports, I’m amazed that they actually get written, that seems to be based on some UK company based upon modelling without talking to anyone.

Anthony Albanese

The PM clapped back at Sky News Australia’s chief news anchor Kieren Gilbert about apparent polling numbers originating from a UK firm called Focal Data that were given to Liberal Party officials at the weekend.

CRIKEY RECAP

Defeating the Voice would guard against a republic referendum: John Howard

ANTON NILSSON

“Prominent Australian monarchists view their opposition to the Voice to Parliament as an opportunity to undermine notions of a future referendum on an Australian republic.

“Former Liberal prime minister John Howard told a meeting of the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (ACM) group in Sydney on Monday he hoped the Voice referendum would fail partly because it would have a chilling effect on the republican movement.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

What’s the Israel-Palestine conflict about? A simple guide (Al Jazeera)

Undersea pipeline damage appears to be deliberate, says Finland (The Guardian)

Five years after [Canada’s] legalisation, easy access to cannabis is showing up as more health problems (CBC)

Putin offers muted response to attack on Israel. That speaks volumes. (The New York Times) ($)

Five telling moments from The Press [New Zealand] leaders debate (Stuff)

Israel pulverises Gaza after Hamas attack as it collects its dead (Reuters)

Worsening drugs shortage is leaving pharmacists and patients in the dark (euronews)

THE COMMENTARIAT

Here in the West Bank, Palestinians are expecting awful reprisals. Such is the cycle of adversity — Fatima AbdulKarim (The Guardian): “While condemning the unjustified acts of aggression from the Palestinian armed groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it is crucial to recognise the undeniable trauma inflicted on Palestinians over the years. We have lived with pervasive fear and dread under the relentless sieges and assaults on Gaza and the prolonged military regime in the West Bank …In the West Bank, the territory where I live, we struggle to live normal lives. Recent years have been marked by soaring deaths, demolitions and displacements, witnessed and documented by international NGOs, the UN and diplomatic representatives. Yet no action has followed. Now, the streets are eerie.

“People are in shock and awe of the proactive, well-planned and coordinated attack launched by the militant groups in Gaza. The attack was immediately followed by the imposition of a full lockdown, which tightens the grip on the daily lives of the West Bank’s residents, restricting our movements and intensifying the limitations on access to essential services and resources. A heavy military presence is converging on the area and we expect an escalation in the number and range of violent settler attacks. Expect, too, more lone wolf attacks by Palestinians against military posts or settlers, an inevitability given the gravity of the casualties. We are living through yet another phase in the cycle of adversity that defines life in this occupied territory.”

Xi wanted to broker peace in the Middle East. He wasn’t counting on a new war — Eryk Bagshaw (The Age) ($): “It was mid-August and Wang Yi was feeling optimistic. The Chinese foreign minister had just had a phone call with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, where he told him he believed a ‘wave of reconciliation’ was washing over the Middle East. China had brokered a peace deal between decade-long rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had finished a four-day state visit to Beijing, and in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been gifted a copy of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s book.

“ ‘We are friends closer than brothers,’ Palestinian Fatah Central Committee official Abbas Zaki told Chinese state media. Netanyahu had told US officials he had begun planning a trip to Beijing this year. Now as the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas fires barrages of rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, kidnaps and murders Israelis, and Israel declares war, no other country can claim to have stable relations with the two sides and with their influential neighbours Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Beijing has spent years building up goodwill in the region. COVID-19 provided the perfect platform to deliver millions of vaccines across the Middle East …”

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Kulin Nation Country (also known as Melbourne)

• Actor Pia Miranda will talk about her new book, Finding My Bella Vita, at The Wheeler Centre.

Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)

• Author Laura Jean McKay will talk about her new book, Gunflower, at Better Read Than Dead bookshop.

Yuggera and Turrbal Country (also known as Brisbane)

• Ecologist Rod Fensham will talk about his new book, the ACE Guide to Eucalypts, at Avid Reader bookshop.

Ngunnawal Country (also known as Canberra)

• India’s former national security adviser Shivshankar Menon will talk about India’s role on the world stage at the National Press Club.

• Special envoy for reconciliation and implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart Senator Pat Dodson will address the National Press Club.